Israel Matzav

Norway divests from Africa-Israel

I'm sure that the Norwegians feel self-righteous for doing this.

Norway's Ministry of Finance announced that the Norway Oil Fund divested from Africa-Israel Investments and Danya Cebus Ltd. on Monday.

The reason given is the companies' construction in the West Bank.

The Norwegian Finance Ministry said, "The ethics council stresses that construction of settlements in the occupied territories violates the decision of the Geneva convention regarding defense of civilians during war time. Several decisions of the UN Security Council and the International Court of Justice have reached the conclusion that construction of Israeli settlements in the Palestinian territories is prohibited."

The Norway Oil Fund has assets worth $450 billion, and held $1.16 million in Africa-Israel shares. Danya Cebus is Africa-Israel's construction subsidiary.

The fund is managed by the Norwegian Central Bank, and divests for ethical reasons. The Norwegian Oil Fund does not invest in companies that manufacture nuclear weapons or weapons of mass destruction, and divests from those that harm the environment and deny workers their rights.

The funny thing about this is that a representative of Africa-Israel was on Israel Radio on Monday, and said that neither company has built in Judea or Samaria in several years. Since that apparently has not spared them from the BDS crowd, maybe they ought to reconsider that position.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:16 AM